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DATE: 26 February 2006
CURRENT LOCATION: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Backpacker's Paradise Lodge) |
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I did it!!
I really did it!! I got all the way to Victoria Falls!! The smoke that thunders... And they were amazing to see. I'd come a long way to see the Falls, which have had a sort of magic in my imagination since i was a kid and began to become aware of the giganticness of the world around me. They always seemed such an amazingly distant place that i might never ever actually get to see - ahem, though you can just get on any old plane and fly directly there. Along with Khartoum and the Cape of Good Hope, this was one of THE most impotant and special places that i wanted to reach on my trip. Though Cape Town was my original goal line, i am very happy to promote Victoria Falls to this honour. Yes, i did get there on a chumpy overland truck and not on my motorcycle =( But i did have to sleep in a leaky tent for 3 weeks, fend jackals from the campsite, push the 12-ton truck out of the mud, dive from the sky, make french toast for 18 people, and take a panga machete to bed one night 'cause the driver thought i mighta pitched my tent a leetle too close to the banks of the Zambezi river and the lairs of crocs and hippos... Arrived at the Falls on the Nomad truck on Thursday and had many much needed Zamezi beers on a sunset cruise above the falls to celebrate. Spent the following day rafting the rapids below the falls, breaking my truck-buddy Lisa's nose, and having a tour of socialised medicine in Zimbawe (which turned out to be fairly top-notch, and only cost 0.12 Cents US - i think he NHS and BC Medicare could take some notes!). Yup. That was the only casualty for the whole overland trip, on the final day. I wish it was my nose, then i'd have a really good war wound to come home with and boast about. Instead i will come home with a guilty conscience for a flagrant flailing of arms and paddle as i was inelegantly flung from the raft by the 6th rapid of the day and somehow struck Lisa on the nose. I didn't have any idea what had happened until i dragged myself out half-drowned from under the raft and back on board to great showers of blood splashing about the stern. In the end, it wasn't too traumatic a wound and 2 stitches did the trick. In my defence, it was a Class 5 rapid for crying out loud?? Sorry Lisa!! I'm sure your boyfriend (who she's meeting up with to travel in S Africa with for 1 month - sorry bud!) will love the new look and think you're a super hard core travel chick! Just arrived today in Bulawayo this morning after a long but reasonable ride on the night train from Victoria Falls. I will spend a few days here checking the Zim scene before returning in the week to Jo'berg to sew up shipping the remains of Mario to London. I'll then fly home and to kiss wet and freezing London soil -oh, and my lovely Mandy too!- for the first time in almost 6 months. I think i'm all done and ready to go home now. I'm certainly worn out and feel like i've achieved somethings, and i've had some incredible experiences, but in another sense it seems like i just left last week - it's somehow gone lightening fast without me even knowing it. I'm sorry that i haven't sent any photos, i can't find internet access that will let me upload documents. In any case, i'll be home to London in less than a week and will have copious amounts of unemployed time on my hands to string some good pictures and narative together. Oh yeah, anybody wanna give me a job? I think MasterCard would appreciate it... Thank you everyone for your emails along the way, they made me smile when i was often at my most desperate and reminded me i wasn't in outer space. I'm sorry i might not always have had a chance to write or call back, but i didn't always have the chance. I'll be back to my old self soon in a week. Thank you to all the folks i met and who helped me along the way, i would have been sunk without your gracious help! And good luck and safe travels to all the other overlanders and travelling folk i met, i'll see you on the road again one day i hope! lots of love, Lachie |
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